


hit me with your best shot

by 180cm



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 08:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15814989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/180cm/pseuds/180cm
Summary: Jeno meets Renjun on the train.





	hit me with your best shot

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first piece of writing I’ve shared with a wide audience so yeah haha :)

Jeno was usually punctual. He didn’t like waiting for people and avoided making others wait for him at all costs. He got up early in the mornings to make sure he could get through his morning routine comfortably and avoid rushing, and he slept early at night ensuring he got his full 8 hours of sleep to keep both his mind and his body healthy; he was a creature of comfort only. A few years ago, Jeno had discovered his current routine which gave him plenty of time in bed to relax while still making the most out of his day and being productive. 

Today was the same as every other day. He got up at 6am and by 7am he was dressed and already halfway through breakfast, checking his reflection on the toaster to make sure there were no flyaway hairs sticking out of place. By 7:30am he was at the train station, reading a folded newspaper with one hand and holding his briefcase with the other while he waited for his train; still on schedule. However, by 8am he was started to get antsy because his train still hadn’t arrived and by 8:30am, stuck on the delayed train for 15 minutes, Jeno started to panic. This was not how his day was supposed to go; he was supposed to be at work in half an hour, not stuck on this god forsaken, piece of shit train which had no intentions of moving anytime soon. 

Sighing, he picked up his briefcase resting on the floor between his feet and stood up. He figured the train had to start moving soon and he needed to leave the moment they arrived at his station. If he wanted to avoid being any later than he already was, he should get to the front of the train so that he could exit the station quicker instead of spending several precious minutes trying to move through the crowds of people at the station - now probably twice the usual amount because of the delay - from the back of the train. 

Clearing his throat and fixing his tie, his newspaper now neatly tucked under his arm, he walked over to the doors separating the different coaches and pressed the button in the middle to open the doors. He walked through 5 coaches, trying to keep his briefcase from hitting the people sitting down and trying to comfortably squeeze through the many people standing up due to a lack of seating on the busy train. The humid air made it hot and sweaty and Jeno felt disgusted being so close to so much sweat, feeling it on the back of his hand as his hand accidentally brushed against someone’s exposed back. 

10 minutes later he was finally almost at the first coach, the train having moved maybe only 20 metres and the people decreasing slightly in numbers the closer he got to the front of the train. He pressed the button on the doors and stepped aside to let the lady with the snack cart come through before he went. He smiled after her then stepped through the separation area and into the first coa- ouch! 

Jeno reached up to rub his sore face, opening his eyes as he felt pressure near his shoulders. He looked up to faces staring down at him and looked around at his surroundings. For some reason he was lying on the floor, body half in and half out of the separation area between the first and second coaches. He got up quickly, picking up his briefcase from under the seats by the door and dusting off his suit. 

“Are you okay?” a man asked, hand gently lingering around Jeno’s elbow. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you, my back was turned and i didn’t see you. Are you okay?” He asked again trying to make eye contact with a confused Jeno. 

“What happened?” Jeno asked his small audience consisting of his apparent attacker, his attacker’s friend and other travellers who had already gone back to minding their own business after seeing that Jeno wasn’t hurt badly. 

“This idiot here,” the man sitting down in the seat to his left, motioned towards his friend still standing in front of Jeno, eyeing him carefully to make sure he wouldn’t suddenly drop dead. “Hit you while doing a really, really, bad impression of our boss. Wanna see?” 

Jeno, confused further as to why the stranger thought he’d want to see that, shook his head and turned his attention to his attacker who was busy shushing his friend. He stared at the man’s face, his eyes sparkling with worry, lips red and slightly open, showing a tiny bit of his shiny, white teeth. 

“I’m alright,” he said, subconsciously rubbing at the sore spot on his face again. His attacker didn’t look convinced and started towards Jeno to examine his face which he hoped wasn’t going to bruise. Once he was closer to Jeno, the attacker extended his arm, going slow to give Jeno time to protest if he wanted to, and touched his cheekbone lightly, fingers ghosting over Jeno’s soft skin, going higher towards his eye which he closed as he felt the stranger’s fingers brush against his eyelashes. 

He opened his eyes suddenly, unaware he had closed them until the stranger’s fingers ran across his closed eyelid. Clearing his throat, he looked between the two strangers and took a step back, hitting the separation door. 

Jeno laughed to ease the tension, “I’m fine. Honestly!” he assured, maintaining eye contact to make sure he got his point across, something he had learnt in a communication seminar at a business convention last year. 

“Are you sure?” The stranger asked again, clearly still worried Jeno was seriously injured. “Because i can take you to the hos-” 

“Relax, Renjun,” The other stranger said, rolling his eyes at his friend. “The man said he’s fine so he’s fine. Chill, he won’t sue you.” He thought about it for a second before turning to Jeno. “You’re not gonna sue him, right?” He asked and Jeno shook his head quickly. 

“There you go,” he said. “He won’t sue so sit down and relax dude.” 

The attacker, Renjun, still looked unsure. “At least sit down and have some water then,” He said to Jeno urging him into a seat in front of the other stranger. Jeno let himself be guided into the seat, putting his briefcase in the seat next to him and accepting the bottle of water Renjun presented him as the train suddenly jerked forward; finally moving again as a distorted announcement rung out overhead, nobody paying attention to it due to the frequency of the the delays that occurred on this service. Instead, Jeno’s attention was on the two men sitting in front of him who had begun speaking. 

“I’m Lee Donghyuck and I sincerely apologise for my idiot friend hitting you and then overreacting.” the man in front of him said as soon as Jeno removed the water bottle from his lips and placed it on the table in front of him. 

“Nice to meet you Lee Donghyuck?” Jeno replied in question before turning to Renjun. “It’s really alright, man, I’m not hurt. Please stop worrying.” he assured the man who finally breathed a sigh of relief, nodding in agreement. 

Jeno smiled and the train stopped again, this time at a station and people exited the train as others boarded with angry faces no doubt caused by the train delay. He took out his phone and texted Jaemin to let him know he would be late to work. 

 

**Today 08:55**

**jeno: gonna be late**

**jaemin: wow jeno youre really saying fuck you to the man arent you**

**jaemin: im proud of you**

 

Jeno laughed at the reply and put his phone away as the train started moving again. Another inch. At this rate he’ll be 50 years old before they reach his stop - he’ll be closer to retirement so he’s thankful there’s at least a silver lining that could come out of this soul crushingly slow journey. 

It took another 45 minutes for the train to finally reach Jeno’s station, which just so happened to be Renjun and Donghyuck’s stop too. They had spent the rest of the journey talking. They talked about how predictable the train service was, always getting delayed or cancelled, yet passengers were always surprised and pissed off when the inconveniences occurred; no matter how often it happened, they were angry at the terrible service. Fuck you, Southern. Jeno especially, despite his punctuality and hatred of having people wait for him, continued taking the same disaster train to work everyday thanking every god out there that he usually made it in to work on time (he actually just got the earlier train so he wouldn’t be late if- _when_ there were delays but thank you anyway god). 

The three men also spent a huge chunk of their time getting to know each other. Jeno had found out that Renjun was very different to how he had seemed after hitting Jeno in the face but he was still alluring, with striking features and harboured a beautiful smile which he didn’t show often; Jeno definitely wanted to know more about him, so much more. He especially wanted to see that rare smile on his face again and again, watching as his eyes sparkled with interest and affection. 

Donghyuck, meanwhile, was… interesting. He seemed like a nice guy, a bit rough and outspoken - not holding back and letting himself be heard - but generally nice, his outspokenness was a positive characteristic in his complex personality, of which Jeno has only gotten a snippet of. He seemed like the type of guy you could joke around with over a beer at the end of a bad day and turn the whole day around simply through his presence and honey like voice saying words of encouragement and Jeno could tell he enjoyed being appreciated and helping people out, even in the smallest of ways. 

When the train reached their destination, the three men got up, Jeno grabbed his briefcase and hurridly stuffed his newspaper inside before following the other two men and exiting the train together to leave the station, navigating their way through the herds of people waiting to board the train. Once outside they parted ways with a promise of meeting again soon, Renjun and Donghyuck headed in the direction of the courthouse across the street as Jeno headed in the opposite direction towards an abundance of tall skyscrapers in the middle of the city centre. 

He didn’t get far before he felt a hand on his shoulder, spinning him around to face them. It was Renjun. Breathing heavily and a sweet smile plastered on his face. Confusion took over Jeno’s features, eyes crinkling and mouth forming an ‘o’ shape ready to ask the boy why he was here when Renjun spoke up. 

“Here,” He said, holding out a white card towards Jeno, waiting for him to take it. He did. He turned it over in his hands, observing the writing splattered on the white card as his fingers brushed over the slightly raised numbers and letters. He looked up to see Renjun still smiling as he slowly started walking backwards to where Jeno could see Donghyuck waiting for him, looking at his wristwatch impatiently. 

“Call me,” He said, sending a final blinding smile to Jeno before he spun around and walked back towards Donghyuck. 

Jeno watched them go, losing them in the new crowd of people coming out of the station and heading across the street. He rubbed his neck as an uncontainable smile appeared on his face. Pocketing the card, he turned back around, hurrying through the busy street to finally get to work. 

Jeno’s day had started out horribly but the events had caused a wide smile to be plastered on his face for the rest of the day, even when Jaemin had pointed out the growing bruise on his face upon his entry into the office. He had taken a seat at his desk in his and Jaemin’s shared office and continued to smile; laughing at the memory of how he had acquired the bruise as Jaemin rushed over to find out what had happened to his friend. Jeno told his friend about his eventful morning and meeting his new friends, not forgetting to mention several times how nice and sweet his attacker was and _I know he hit me but damn, Jaemin_. 

The smile was still there as Jeno spent the majority of the morning in a boring board meeting, listening to executives talk about marketing plans and expansion ideas for a string of resorts his company had recently acquired. 

Two days later, Jeno boarded the bothersome train once again and was met with two familiar faces smiling at him and waving him over to join them. He walked over and took a seat next to Renjun, smiling at him brightly as Donghyuck asked him about his weekend. He turned to answer the question presented to him and could feel Renjun’s eyes scanning his face as he listened intently to every word Jeno said, smiling softly with a sparkle in his eyes. Jeno looked at Renjun after he finished talking, smiling back bright as ever and thanking the heavens for letting him get punched in the face that day.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it :)
> 
>  
> 
> [ twitter ](HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/180CENTIMETRES) [ cc ](HTTPS://CURIOUSCAT.ME/MARKLY)


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